Not to speak for everyone but I charge by the linear foot. With the way they keep raising the price of direct fire I have just had to go up on what I charge. I bid 1-1000 feet one price and the more feet I do I go down a penny or two. You have to take into considerations the width and depth of the crack. I bid on 1/2 by 1/2 and if they are larger then I add a few pennies per foot. You also need to check your box or with the manufacture to figure out how many linear feet of crack each box is suppose to do. I.E. mine will do 300 linear foot of 1/2 by 1/2 inch cracks.

PPC explained it well. Same way I do it. Also depends on commercial vs. residential, as residential will be more per foot since there is less area. I have a 10 gallon melter/applicated but its a bit of a pain to use. A good started unit, but its time to upgrade. I'm going to get a 30 and pour pots (for gaps along walls, garages, tight areas, etc) and banders as soon as I could afford it.

Great info, I thank you all so much!!! As I have not used this machine yet, what would the average time to use one load of material take? I know it will depend on how far you need to travel for the cracks, but just in general. I have one lot, that has 3275 feet of cracks, average 1/2 x 1/2, so how long would you figure that will take? Again, thanks for the help in Advance !!!

depends how fast you work and how many people you got with you. and if the cracks are clean. i use a little wonder with a wire wheel to remove grass/dirt from cracks and then blow them out. You could do that in 1 day easy. 5 hours maybe. just clean the cracks as the material is melting. it takes like 20 minutes for it to be workable, and just keep it heated as your working to keep melting and continue adding more material. when my valve is clean and everything is flowing smoothly i can work pretty fast. but you have to refill a lot of them because the material tends to settle and and shrink so you have to keep refilling them to bring them up to level and make them look nice. you really dont have to do that, since even if the material is sunk, the crack is still sealed, but it looks better if its filled all the way up.

and be very careful, that stuff is HOT and stickey and will really hurt and burn you if you get it on you

Thanks again So 2 people, should be able to do this area in 12 hours or so? I have the lil wonder with wire wheel ( just welding on the front wheel swivil wheel now) and the air. I hope to have the 40 ish gallon melter done by the time I do these lots. Thanks again for the help, don't want to under bid the first job !